RICI-I, RESTLESS AND COMPLETELY CLUELESS RACE2

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RRI N G: Saif Ali Khan , Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Jacqueline Fernandez, Anil Kapoor, Ameesha Patel

DIR ECTE D BY: Abbas-M u stan

veryone is busy deceivi ng everyone else in this paper caper, wh i ch probably looked tempting in the writing but comes across on screen as a masquerade of hedonistic hi -jinx filmed at exotic locales where men and women play for high stakes, live dangerously and die foolishly

Abbas-Mustan 's love for depicting the high life is by now well -known Everyone in an Abbas -Mustan caper takes his or her life at the race course seriously when in fact the characters are all an extended joke. They are comicbook cut-outs pasted on to the big w i de screen with all their exaggerations blown out of proportion

It's hard to pinpoint where the leakage in this latest Abbas-Mustan adventurecaper begins to seep septically into the plot. But you know there is something serious amiss in the plot when one protagonist, Saif Ali Khan deadpans: Revenge is best served cold:'

Really? If that w e re indeed the case t hen the volumes of vendetta served up by disgruntled men and women in Race 2 should have made our adrenaline er race really hard.

Alas, the proceedings are as exciting as graffiti on a newly-pai nted toilet wall. The uni-expression macho man John Abraham loves th e leggy Deepika Padukone who loves the scowling Saif A li Khan who loves Jacqueline Fernandes. In the end, these self- serving hedonists seem to love n one but themselves.

Boring in their self -abso r ption and utterl y oblivious to the wor ld around t hem where pain and suffering are to be obtained once t he fun and games end, these characters are busy striking artificial poses in carefully-toned bodies draped in the best dresses and suits created for the rich and the restless.

These are the nowhere people searching for th ri ll s in a plot that revels in restlessness and seeks succour in maki ng suckers out of all the characters The on l y mlldly i nteresting characters are the brassy detective played by Anil Kapoor and his air-head secretary Ameesha Patel: she flutters her eyelashes at his incessant phallic jokes feigning complete ignorance.

Sadly, the holiday mood that prevails t hrough the fi l m grips the film's arch itects. They seem to be on leave as the action director takes over the proceedings To be fai r a couple of chase sequences specially one through the crowded streets of Istanbu l where Saif hunts down hi s beloved 's killer, are ki ll ers But the climax on board a fake luxury aircraft i s a howl. Amateur adventurers getting a kick out of their big-boy ant ics, John and Saif are to be taken as seriously as Superman and